To kick off the second season of “I Feel U,” Toni Gonzaga and guests talk about their stand on destiny and hard work. Coming from a famous showbiz clan, Julia Barretto believes being an actress is imprinted in her destiny. She remembers crying and begging her parents to allow her accept an acting project at the age of 9. Her mom and dad wouldn’t let her at first, trying to spare her from the tides of showbiz. But no matter how much her parents tried to keep her away from the limelight, Julia couldn’t resist where destiny was leading her to.

True to her parents’ worry, Julia found herself dealing with the less glamorous side of the business. Last year has been the most intense season of her ‘buhay-artista,’ so far. Julia got all sorts of hate comments after having been involved in a controversial love triangle.

Looking back on what happened, Julia could only be grateful than bitter. She would rather choose to focus on the better, bigger things ahead than complain about the past. “It’s true that when you have a grateful heart, instead of questioning the things that are happening to you, instead of complaining, parang grateful ka na lang na nangyayari sa’yo ‘to because you know that its preparing you for the bigger battles in life,” she mused on.

Thanks to her family who acted as her biggest support system, Julia was able to surpass that turbulent phase and even picked up lessons from it. The 23-year-old actress stressed that things eventually get better, so there’s no need to get stuck in a difficult situation.

The quarantine period helped Julia relax from all the noise of yesteryear. She’s busy improving her own house’s modern interior and she loves just staying at her “place of calm and safe haven.”

Also on the show is Dani Barretto, who expressed how proud she is of Julia’s independent living. Dani shared that her younger sister has become more responsible and a better cook now that she’s running her own household. She also mentioned that Julia is a sweet aunt to her daughter Millie.

The two have always been close and they couldn’t think of a time when they had a fight. It helps that Dani is a good listener and her siblings trust her pieces of advice. Among the many qualities they share is their unbreakable strength, which they attribute to their mom Marjorie Barretto.

“I’m glad that we were raised by a strong mother. She was such a role model to us na lahat kami, we just knew how to react. Siya ‘yung reason kung bakit lahat kami ganito katapang, hindi pumapatol,” said Dani. She added that through Marjorie, they learned that staying intact as a family is more important than putting up a fight. Now that she’s a mother herself, Dani’s appreciation for Marjorie grew all the more.

“Si Mommy sets that peaceful circle na kami lang talaga, my siblings and her. When we’re in that bubble, nothing else matters. She’s our anchor. She’ll never let us see her break at all because she knows the moment she crumbles, we’ll all crumble,” added Julia. The greater the turbulence, the more they hold on to each other.

With all they’ve gone through individually and as a family, Julia and Dani are now equipped with more valuable life lessons they could use as they move further in their destiny “There’s no end in the road called life. You have to allow yourself to grow, surrender, and eventually evolve. I learned that there’s no reason to be afraid of starting over. There’s no reason to be afraid of change,” Julia expressed.

Dani further expound on how trials make them better individuals. “Ang daming pinagdaanan ng family namin for last year. But it passed, okay din naman. There are just moments in your life that you have to go through this but after that, you grow from that, you learn from that, and you turn out to be a whole different person.”

Julia believes that everything eventually falls into their rightful place, so there’s no need to panic. And when asked about her stand on destiny, Julia thought, “I’m really a strong believer of destiny. I believe wherever you are meant to be, talagang hahatakin ka ng life towards your destiny kahit ayaw mo, eh. It’s pushing you towards your destiny.” But then again, she emphasized that we still have control over our decisions and things we want to work out.